Scary fixtures this weekend awaits, but do check out Jae’s K-League weekend listings -split table in full effect with all the fly-by-seat-of-yo-pants action between escaping the black hole of relegation and the throttling for the coveted Asian Champions League spots. Now then, the Korean ballers in Europe (courtesy of Korean Footballers Abroad):

Another reminder about K-League games this weekend, east coast US viewers (Tavern owner included) will have to make viewing part of their post-party routine as many of the games start at 1 am. However, west coast Tavern goers will have the advantage, 10pm PST games could make streaming a K-league game the center of the party. Somebody make this happen -and take an instagram of it – I’ll say it right here and right now we’ll post pics. Holla! {I’ve been told by my the Tavern Age-Appropriateness Monitor that I’m too old to be hollering ‘holla’ at everyone. He tells me to ‘chill’. Who the f*ck is this guy? Get the hell out of my Tavern! Out! On your way!)

Ok, so Park Chu-Young, Nam Tae-Hee, Lee Keun-Ho, Han Kook-Young, all these guys are plying the trade in the mid east. What do I think about that? Short of happy, it’s not a truly competitive environment in the way top flight European football is, but at least they’re getting regular minutes. And then there’s Asamoah Gyan, he also is based in the mid east, and still able to be effective for the Ghana Black Stars despite leaving the Premier League 2 years ago. So I guess it’s possible that some Koreans in the ‘desert’ (as some people have derisively dubbed those leagues,) it might not be an entirely negative experience. We shall see…

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Apparently there are Thursday league games in the Middle East. Some Koreans have already played, here’s a quick roundup:

Park Chu-Young played 90 minutes for Al Shabab in a scoreless affair with Al Raed.

Cho Young-Chol played 90 for Qatar SC in a 1-1 draw with Al Khariyath / Han Kook-Young not in the 18 for Qatar SC.

Lee Myeong-Joo and Al Ain are on break in the United Arab Emirates until Nov 30th.

*** wait a tic, isn’t Kwak Tae-Hwi and Al Hilal, already with a Halloween date with Al Faisaly — well check this: following day is the 2nd leg of the Asian Champions League title match with Western Syndney?!? I’m wondering if the league match will be postposed due to the Asian Champions League finals so close. Anyway, Al Hilal are down 1-0 in aggregate from the 1st leg game, bit of a uphill struggle for them to capture the title but stranger things have happened.

Raft of injuries: Ji Dong-Won (knee injury), Koo Ja-Cheol (flu?) join Kim Jin-Su (several weeks away from full recover). Good news: Park Joo-Ho rejoined his Mainz teammates in practice this week, but not sure if he’ll make the lineup on Saturday.

Yun Suk-Young is back on track, high praise from Gary Neville among others for his first 2 EPL starts, but QPR are facing Chelsea – who might have that force of momentum to stop QPR from getting consecutive wins. And yet, 2 years ago when they last faced each other, QPR was able to get a win (I think Park Ji-Sung put in a good shift and an assist? Where’s the Tavern Statistician?).

While it’s unlikely Kim Bo-Kyung will get any time with this new-ish Cardiff management, with Yun suddenly coming back to the scene, will it be Kimbo’s return from the dead? It’s Halloween weekend, so – why not? Cross your zombie fingers and bloody paws.

Eh, Son didn’t have the best game on Wednesday obviously. Red card silliness from a young man who’s been on form for the most part of the year. But having eeked out a 5-4 penalty win against a 4th tier team, Leverkusen will be exhausted against Hamburg, but look for Son to work out some anger issues from midweek and perhaps score some against his old team.

Lee Chung-Yong been on a roll since moving to center mid, Neil Lennon’s injected some optimism and US viewers will get a rare chance to see Bolton and Eng Championship as it will be on BeIn Sports.

Ki Sung-Yeung meanwhile has been spot on for Swansea all season. Great lineup on Saturday as Swans will face Everton and ex Swans manager Robert Martinez.

Not at all related to Korean chugu, I’m a huge Flaming Lips fan, but their misadventure in covering the entire Dark Side of the Moon album a few years ago was folly. When I heard the news, I thought they were about to wander into another fail by attempting a sacrilegious redo of the whole Sgt Peppers album. The audacity! Burn them at the stake! And yet, listening to the preview stream on NPR, I was surprised and blown away. It’s very cheeky, experimental at times and balancing reverence with punk ‘tude and an electronic kitchen sink thrown in that spiritually seems appropriate for a album like Sgt Peppers. Worth checking out, it’s just been released.

Lastly, If in the US, do remember to vote for the midterms next week. Historically younger people tend to forget to vote in the midterms, to which conservative candidates take advantage of. There’s a growing disenfranchisement of minority voters, evidenced by Texas and other efforts by tea party activists in other states to enforce voter-id laws (ironically recent actual cases of voter fraud has emerged from GOP corners). For such supposed lack of interest in the midterms, thanks to the hyper-insane Citizens United Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited campaign money to influence peddle, this already is the most expensive election in US history. Money = Speech. Bill Maher put this out about the distracted US voter:

and the Daily Show in Austin this past week (Jae’s freaky hometown) put a spotlight on the Koch Brothers and their attempts to buy power with millions in hush sneaky PAC funds:

Its ok to post links right? Swansea Everton write-up. I like the Daily Mail for some reason. Its a complete rag but I like the way they present their stories and for some odd reason this rag tends to have a lot more detail than other news sources. Some cool pics.

K League Classic

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Ulsan

29

2

Seoul

25

3

Jeonbuk Motors

24

4

Daegu

22

5

Sangju Sangmu

20

6

Pohang Steelers

20

7

Gangwon

19

8

Suwon Bluewings

13

9

Seongnam

13

10

Jeju United

10

11

Gyeongnam

9

12

Incheon United

6

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

May 25, 2019

Seongnam

1 - 4

Ulsan

Gangwon

0 - 1

Jeju United

Pohang Steelers

0 - 0

Seoul

May 24, 2019

Incheon United

1 - 2

Sangju Sangmu

May 19, 2019

Sangju Sangmu

1 - 3

Seoul

Seongnam

1 - 2

Gangwon

English Premier League

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

AFC Bournemouth

0

2

Arsenal

0

3

Brighton & Hov…

0

4

Burnley

0

5

Chelsea

0

6

Crystal Palace

0

7

Everton

0

8

Leicester City

0

9

Liverpool

0

10

Manchester City

0

11

Manchester United

0

12

Newcastle United

0

13

Norwich City

0

14

Sheffield United

0

15

Southampton

0

16

Tottenham Hotspur

0

17

Watford

0

18

West Ham United

0

19

Wolverhampton Wanderers

0

Hwang Heechan

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Red Bull Salzburg

55

Bundesliga

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Bayern München

78

2

Borussia Dortmund

76

3

RB Leipzig

66

4

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

58

5

Borussia Mönchengladbach

55

6

Wolfsburg

55

7

Eintracht Frankfurt

54

8

Werder Bremen

53

9

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

51

10

Fortuna Düsseldorf

44

11

Hertha BSC

43

12

1. FSV Mainz 05

43

13

SC Freiburg

36

14

Schalke 04

33

15

Augsburg 1907

32

16

Stuttgart

28

17

Hannover 96

21

18

Nürnberg

19

Kwon Changhoon

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

18

Dijon

34

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The Tavern of the Taeguk Warriors is an online community of Korean football/soccer supporters. We bring you news, analysis and opinion in English about Korean players abroad, youth players and the K League.